ZGARD – Spirit of Carpathian Sunset

“Spirit of Carpathian Sunset – Дух Карпатських Сутінків” is typically the debut album of Ukrainian folk pagan black metallers Zgard. This two-men’s band was formed in 2010 and inside January 2012 they released 2 full-length albums. The second one “Reclusion” was released as a solo album of Yaromysl (also in Goverla), while in this one Gutsul (also in Goverla) participated on wind instruments, vargan and percussion. All music and lyrics were again written by Yaromysl.

In this album Zgard play wonderful folk black metal, in the unique Ukrainian style. In “Reclusion” and in their 3rd upcoming album “Astral Glow” their music has a more atmospheric and less folk approach. “Spirit of Carpathian Sunset” contains 10 songs and over 65 minutes of melodic pagan black metal, enriched by many traditional instruments, especially flutes. Guitars and synths co-exist in perfect balance with all the traditional instruments and their sound is the ideal for this genre in my opinion. Most of the singing is black metal screams, but there are some clean male vocals too. Their songs aren’t too extreme and their rhythm is mid-tempo, with some faster outbreaks. All compositions are very melodic and melancholic, but since the band doesn’t use refrains or repeated parts in its songs you need to give them more time in order to fully absorb their countless ideas! There are also 3 instrumental songs, as well as many acoustic and atmospheric passages, while nature sounds often accompany their music. All their nature inspired lyrics are in Ukrainian, but you can find the translations in their detailed 12-page booklet.

“Spirit of Carpathian Sunset ” is a perfect example of Ukrainian pagan folk black metal, totally recommended to every fan of this genre. It is one of the most complete folk black metal albums I’ve listened to this year and I am really looking forward for their new album in the beginning of 2013. “Spirit of Carpathian Sunset ” is released by Darker Than Black Records and like all Zgard albums it comes with excellent artwork from Kogaion Art. You can find more details and sounds of this great band in their official pages below.